| Common Structural Terminology |
| |
| Western popular music is overwhelmingly
vocal in form and model and, thus, the terminology and constructs have
their origins in references to text and song. |
| Verse. A strophic
combination of a musical idea that recurs with different text. In nineteenth-century
and early twentieth-century popular song, a soloist (or, sometimes, a
duet) sings this part in contrast to the chorus. |
| Bridge. A section of music in which some sort of transition takes
place. (Some musicians refer to the "chorus" as the bridge.) |
| Refrain. A recurring
line of music and text that might stand alone, but which usually is a
part a larger section. |
| Chorus. In the nineteenth century, the chorus was a section of a song sung
by a group of singers and contrasting with the verse (sung by a soloist). By convention, the chorus today refers to a music that contrasts with the verse. |
| Coda. A section
of concluding music at the end of a song. Sometimes, people who write
about music describe this section as the "outro" (as a parallel to "intro,"
and abbreviation of "introduction"). |
| Intro. An abbreviation
of "Introduction." Usually this is musical material drawn from elsewhere
in the song and used as a way of establishing key and/or meter. |
| Hook. Song composers
have crafted their product to include catchy phrases that repeat the name
of the song to an easily remembered melody. The idea here is to "hook"
the listener so that they'll remember the song's title when they go to
the store to buy it. |